The Bringers of Wonder Part 2

Helena and Maya arrive in
Medical Center to find Dr. Shaw
checking on Koenig. When he
leaves, Helena wakes John. She
and Maya have brought a
recording of the pilot ship
approaching Earth to see if John
will react favorably to proof

that things are as they say are.
But when John sees the images
he tells them what he sees is not
the pilot ship, but an Eagle. He
asks the to consider the possibility
that the brain complex shielded
his mind from the telepathic
control of the aliens. Maya

starts to piece together some
events of the last few days that
do help to support his claims.
Koenig wins them over when he
mentions that time would have
passed much faster on Earth,
than it has on Alpha, making
their "friends" hundreds of years

older than they appeared. John
convinces Helena to hook Maya
up to the complex, to affirm his
story, and help fight them if he
is proven right. While Carter,
Erlich, and Bartlett prepare to
land on Earth, Maya has finished
her treatment. She takes a look

down the hall and sees the alien
creatures that Koenig has been
describing. What they believe to
be the pilot ship, lands, not on
Earth, but in the middle of the
nuclear waste domes on the
Moon. The crew disembarks,
believing that they are checking

into a hotel, when they are, in
reality, entering one of the waste
domes. On Alpha, Koenig has
Maya turn into one of the alien
creatures to find out what their
purpose is. When they see her,
they realize she is not one of
their group, and follow her.

She hides in a doorway and
barely manages to change back
before they catch up to her. She
tells John and Helena that they
need radiation to live, but only
the intense radiation of a
nuclear explosion. Koenig checks
the location of the "pilot ship"

crew. He locates their Eagle
by the nuclear waste domes.
Now Maya can see the Eagle as
well, but Helena still sees the
pilot ship. Koenig finds the crew,
loading nuclear fuel into a
moonbuggy and has computer
lock them in the Atomic Fuel

Store. They immediately start to
cut their way out with a laser.
John rushes to go out and stop
them, but is caught and stunned
by Tony, under the control of Dr.
Shaw, when he gets to launch
pad 4. He is brought back to
Medical Center, where Helena

chastised for not raising the
alarm when Koenig "broke loose".
Koenig is secured, and a security
guard is left to keep watch. Maya
stuns him, so they can stop Alan
and the others before they can
trigger the waste domes. John
wants Helena to process all the

Alphans on the brain complex,
to break the aliens control. She
says it would take too long, but
comes up with another way to
break the aliens hold over them.
The three head to Command
Center to broadcast the "white
noise" to everyone on the base.

They are met with resistance,
as several security guards try
to stop them on their way.
They arrive at Command
Center, and after stunning the
guards there, hold everyone
at gun point, while Helena
tries to activate the white

noise. Dr. Shaw begins to take
control of her, but Koenig kicks
him away, takes the card and
inserts it into the control panel.
The sound breaks the aliens
control, and they are revealed
for what they are. Everyone is
shocked as their loved ones

turn into hideous creatures.
Tony shoots one but Koenig tells
him that they feed on energy.
The creatures disappear, and
they think they have defeated
them, until Koenig checks the
nuclear waste area, to see that
Carter and Erlich are bringing

the nuclear trigger to Bartlett,
as all three are still under the
aliens control. John, Tony, and
Maya take an eagle out to stop
them. Koenig orders all non-
essential power cut on Alpha
to lessen the available energy
to the already starving aliens.

They locate Carter and Erlich's
moonbuggy but can't land in front
of it due to the weight of the
Eagle, so Koenig has himself
lowered to the surface in a
harness. His attempts to talk
to Carter and Erlich fail. He
tries to wave them down, but

they see him as a masked
bandit. After narrowly missing
Koenig with the moonbuggy,
they get out and attack him.
Seeing this in the Eagle, Tony
lowers Maya to even the odds.
She arrives as they remove his
oxygen hose, and pulls them off.

Erlich's air tank is punctured in
the fray. While Koenig and Maya
seal it, Alan takes off in the
moonbuggy. Koenig pursues
on foot, while Maya gets Erlich
back to the Eagle. Alan arrives
at the waste domes and brings
in the nuclear trigger, while

Bartlett brings in the laser they
will use to seal the door shut.
Koenig gets there to find all the
aliens gathered around the waste
dome. He contacts Maya who
assures him they are focusing all
their energy controlling Carter and
Bartlett and cannot harm him.

Koenig tries to open the door
with his commlock but can't.
He sees that it has been sealed
with a laser, and tries ramming
the door with the moonbuggy
to break it loose. After several
attempts he breaks through.
He contacts Maya and asks

why the aliens are still able
to control Carter and Bartlett.
Maya speculates that the
electrical activity of the brains
of the Alphans may be enough
to keep the aliens at survival
level. John contacts Helena
and has her knock out

everyone on the base, but
the chief engineer and herself.
He finds Carter and Bartlett
preparing to place the fuel into
the core. He stops Bartlett, who
then breaks free of the aliens
control, and manages to pin
Alan to the ground. He asks

Bartlett for help, but between the
aliens hypnotic words, and
whatever mind control they are
able to manage in their weakened
state, Bartlett is no help. Alan
breaks free and gets the upper
hand over Koenig. Alan chokes
John into unconsciousness, then

picks up the nuclear fuel again
and staggers towards the core.
John wakes in time to stop him
from fully inserting the fuel.
They struggle until Koenig
punches Alan, knocking him
out. The aliens tell Koenig
that he is "a truly primitive

organism", telling him that they
could have given the Alphans an
eternity of happiness in an instant
of time. Koenig replies that "it's
better to live as you own man,
than as a fool in someone else's
dream". With no more energy to
be had, the aliens vanish.

Screenplay.................................................................Terence Feely

Director........................................................................Tom Clegg

Guest Stars

Stuart Damon..........................................................Guido Verdeschi

Patrick Westwood...............................................................Dr. Shaw

Toby Robins..................................................................Diana Morris

Nicholas Young..........................................................Peter Rockwell

Cher Cameron......................................................................Louisa

Al Lampert....................................................................Ken Burdett

Billy J. Mitchell........................................................Professor Hunter

Robert Sheedy.......................................................................Henry

Albin Pahernik............................................................Lizard Animal

David Jackson...............................................................Alien Voice

Additional Cast

Zienia Merton.............................................................Sandra Benes

Jefferey Kissoon.........................................................Dr. Ben Vincent

Nick Hobbs.................................................................Clive Kander

Jeremy Young...............................................................Jack Bartlett

Drewe Henley..................................................................Joe Erlich

Earl Robinson.................................................................Sandstrom

The second half of Space: 1999's only two-parter, is not quite as strong as the first half, but holds up fairly well despite a slightly troubled opening. First, the fact that Helena and Maya show up with the recording to show Koenig, rather than Tony and Maya, who started out with it in the first half, is a little odd. Perhaps Tony need to rest after getting beat up by Sandstrom? Second, the resolution to the cliffhanger was a little anticlimactic. We are left thinking Koenig's very life is in danger, and perhaps it was, but when Helena and Maya enter the room, Dr. Shaw only appears to be looking Koenig over, then after a few brief words he leaves. Things do pick up a bit with some intelligent dialogue between Koenig, Helena, and Maya regarding the possibility that he may be rational after all. In contrast to his ranting and raving in the first half, this works extremely well. I especially liked the fact that he brought up the difference in time passing between them and Earth. This is not only logical, but maintains a nice continuity with Journey to Where.

There is some nice playful banter among Carter, Erlich and Bartlett as they believe they are approaching Earth. It really shows their excitement in a very natural way. I do wonder why they chose to have the pilot ship land in New York City though. None of the dream sequences actually looked like they took place in New York. The only reason I can think of is because they had aerial footage they could use. I was curious what it might have looked l had they shown the pilot ship land in the city, and came up with these.

There were some issues with the pilot ship as far as continuity. At one point they show the pilot ship land in the nuclear waste area. They should have either shown the Eagle landing there, or the pilot ship in New York. the same applies for when Helena sees the pilot ship on the monitor in Medical Center. Koenig and Maya see the Eagle in the waste area, but Helena says she still sees the pilot ship. Unfortunately, the pilot ship she sees is in the waste area too!

An amusing point, which I enjoyed, was when they showed how subjective the ideas of beauty and ugliness were, with the aliens commenting on how ugly we humans are. Also somewhat amusing, though not intentionally, is the chase scene between the aliens and Maya in their form. Their shuffling pace takes a little of the tension away from the scene.

I think they did an admirable job of showing how the aliens could trick the Alphans into doing one thing while making them think they are doing another. This worked really well with the scenes of Bartlett adjusting the stereo, while he was, in fact, opening the radiation shields, as well as the dune buggy/ moon buggy scenes.

But what is it with Alan Carter and running people down with a moonbuggy? Didn't he just bounce Maya off the hood of one in Space Warp? He must have been moving pretty fast when he was aiming for Koenig, because he shifts the large rock outcropping! Another small nit in this scene, just before they unhook Koenig's air hose, when they wrestle him to the ground, the seal comes open on his spacesuit between his sleeve and glove.

I am not sure why in this scene they chose to have Maya transform into a different creature than in Space Warp. How many space creatures have the ability "to store oxygen like a camel stores water"? Interestingly enough, they did use the same analogy.

They make pretty good use of cardboard cutouts to create the illusion of many aliens when, I would venture to say, they probably only had three actual suits.

I think the set for the nuclear waste dome was terrific. I think it is one of the few sets in the second season that has the size and scope of some the first seasons sets.

While it may not have been necessary to have that large a space to tell the story, there is something to be said for grandeur. This scene also boasts some interesting dialogue between the Bringers of Wonder, and Bartlett and Koenig. Their suggestion that time is an illusion, and their examples do actually make you take pause to think, and in as much, made the "immobilization" of Bartlett in their weakened state more believable. One can't help but wonder if Bartlett would agree with Koenig's assessment that "it's better to live as your own man, than as a fool in someone else's dream".

Replies to comments made here are always welcome. You can contact me by using the commlock in the Communication Centre.

	"Moonbase Alpha status report, 2515 days since leaving Earth orbit..."
	Koenig and Maya discuss the possible effects of the brain complex on his mind.
	Maya, Koenig, and Helena discuss Koenig's theory of alien mind control.
	Maya turns into a blob.
	The aliens discuss the fate of the ugly humans.
	Maya explains the aliens' motivations and plans.
	Helena comes up with a plan to block the aliens' mind control.
	Getting to Command Center and activating the white noise.
	Koenig breaks through the sealed door of the waste dome. (edited)
	John has Helena knock out almost everyone on Alpha.
	Koenig gets through to Bartlett.
	The aliens try to convince Koenig that quality is better than quantity.
	Koenig KO's Alan to save the day, and waxes philosophic.
	Maya picks up Tony, and John catches up on his beauty sleep.
	Background sound